Myths, Truths and Lies about the Hardware of PC

The big problem in the hardware world is the ignorance of certain users of the community, which favors the reproduction of myths. Ignorance can play a trick on us all because we can give credibility to a myth that has no foundation.

Myths and truths about hardware

During these years, we have heard claims that do not make any sense, but many users support them. So, we have decided to reveal the whole truth about the myths and truths of hardware.

“A good source has a lot of power”

This statement is false because the declared maximum power can be good or bad. In other words, to know how good a power supply is, we have to observe its energy certification . We can have a 1000W source, but with an 80 Plus White certification, which is the lowest of all.

What is this about energy certification? The power supplies do not consume the declared power , but more, or much more in certain cases. Depending on the energy certification that the source has, it will deliver the declared power, but it will consume more energy than that power.

To make it more visual, we will use a typical example, but first we leave you here the comparative table of certifications. The percentages represent the loading of the source.

If you look closely, the true weaknesses appear when the load is raised, that is, when the components are demanding a lot of energy from the source, when does this occur? In certain cases, such as rendering a video or 3D models, playing video games , etc.

In such contexts, the GPU and CPU (they are the components that demand the most power from the source) consume much more power . For this reason, we are interested that our source of, for example, 500W does not need 680 W to power our equipment because it is very inefficient. As is obvious, we are going to want it to consume as little as possible to deliver that power, something that is determined by the efficiency of our source.

Logically, if we raise the certification, the difference will be even greater. In conclusion, “the more power you have, the better” is one of the most talked about myths about hardware , because one of the biggest truths is hidden in the certification of the source.

“Liquid cooling systems are cracking”

This statement stems from the appearance of the first custom liquid cooling kits. It was a somewhat experimental time, which led to failures such as cracks . These originated in the tubes , spilling the refrigerant liquid inside the box. The result was unused components.

Innovative products often have in common an initial phase plagued with failures, which in custom kits were cracks. The problem is in relating this statement to the newer kits.

After the improvements implemented by the manufacturers, it is very difficult for us to see these cracks in our equipment.

Thus, this statement was true 15 years ago, but it is something that has disappeared over time. The AIO kits are very safe and it is difficult for it to happen to us in a custom kit, although in the latter it is a risk that continues to exist.

“Installing an SSD speeds up your PC”

We could consider this statement as true , but it is not a correct expression . What accelerates the speed of the system is not the installation of an SSD per se, but the installation of the operating system on that SSD.

For example, if we have Windows 10 installed on an HDD and then we install an SSD … there will be practically no difference.

The difference comes when we install the OS on the SSD , greatly increasing the speed of the system. This happens because an SSD can multiply by 4 the read and write speed of an HDD. If it is an NVMe SSD, the difference is even greater.

However, if we install programs on a secondary HDD (they can be video games), they will take much longer to boot . On the other hand, everything we install on the SSD will take much less time to start.

“Don’t buy a custom kit for its maintenance”

If we do things right from the beginning, we will not have to continually change fluids. There are certain recommendations about the maintenance of a custom cooling kit, but they are not exhaustive.

People think that maintenance must be done every 6 months, but we can spend 1-2 years with the same liquid and limiting ourselves to cleaning the radiator with fans.

At the time of maintenance , it is true that it is a much more laborious process than that of a normal PC. Remember that we have to clean all the ducts well, such as certain parts (tank, radiators, water block, etc.).

Personally, I would change this statement to “don’t buy a custom kit, if you don’t know how it works,” or, “don’t buy a custom kit, if you’re not willing to take risks.” Everything has its pros and cons: the custom kit is more complex , but offers the best overclock (without going into the use of nitrogen).

“AMD processors get very hot”

Does the era of toasters sound familiar to you? We are now in the first decade of the 21st century to see the presentations of the AM3 (2009) and AM3 + (2011) platforms, which would bring with them the famous FX processors , Ahtlon II and Phenom II .

In the main hardware forums it was said that the AMD FX 8 and 6 core chips were reaching too high temperatures ; in fact, overclocking them required powerful cooling solutions.

For this reason, they received the nickname ” toasters .” However, this time has passed, so it is false to say that the latest AMD chips get very hot .

Moreover, if we go to desktop and laptop platforms, you will see that it is possible to see certain Intel chips much hotter than their equivalent in AMD.

You will see that Intel advertises high frequencies in its high performance chips, subjecting the operation of the CPU to a certain frequency, if there are “favorable thermal conditions”.

Of course, AMD has greatly improved the temperatures of its processors since the launch of Ryzen and the AM4 platform.

“Intel is better than AMD”

We reached the biggest controversy ever, and to be, between the fans of both brands. We always pretend to be objective, based on the experience we get from our reviews.

In the past , the desktop platform was dominated by Intel , since AMD could not offer the same quality, nor the same performance.

The only way AMD had to make up for its shortcomings was by lowering the price of its processors or offering more cores and threads.

In this way, Intel has always been the most expensive option , but it had the trade-off of being the best option.

It has rained a lot since the beginning of this war between AMD and Intel, but we have good news: AMD has improved a lot . The launch of the Ryzen platform forced Intel to work significantly harder on its processors, balancing the performance scale.

We don’t like generic claims, there is simply a more suitable product for specific needs.

Intel has some advantage over AMD in gaming, but AMD offers very interesting solutions for professionals or much harder tasks. So, in certain scenarios, Intel improves on AMD and vice versa .

“The more often the RAM is, the better”

This statement is completely false , since we miss a key characteristic in RAM memories: latency . Latency is the time it takes for memory to execute a command since it receives it. Therefore, the RAM memory receives instructions, but does not execute them at the moment, but a certain time elapses.

You have guessed correctly: the higher the latency , the worse performance because the RAM memory takes longer to execute that command. If we are going to use the PC for everyday things (Word, browsing, etc.), we will not notice that latency.

Instead, we experience a big difference in past load tasks such as editing, processing, virtual machines, and playing video games .

In general terms, we can know the latency that our RAM memory has by attending to the acronym CL , which is usually accompanied by two numbers . For a better understanding, let’s take a quick example :

• RAM memory with 4000 MHz frequency and a CL20 . Its performance will be equivalent to a RAM with 3,200 MHz and a CL16 . The latter offers up to 5% more performance than the former.

The surprise comes when we see that modules with 4000 MHz cost a lot of money. So the key to the best RAM is having a balanced spec, in terms of capacity , frequency, and latency .

To give you an idea, a CL16 latency is not a show, but it works for 90% of the cases. You can try to get a better one: the lower this number, the lower latency we will have (CL15, CL14, CL13, etc.).

“More cores is better”

This statement is too generic, so it is false . Not everyone needs many cores; in fact, there are users who are enough and are left with 2 cores.

Earlier we said that many Intel fans charged against AMD for its temperatures in the first decade. Interestingly, this statement is often repeated among fans of AMD, as it is a manufacturer that has always wanted to offer more cores than Intel in desktop processors.

Keep in mind that most applications only take advantage of 4 processor cores . Obviously, we can find programs that use 6 and 8 cores, which will cause a brutal performance difference between a CPU with 4 cores and another with 6.

One of the most common comparative scenarios is video games . Many are optimized for 4 cores , with a minority taking advantage of configurations with more cores. Obviously, times change and video games will end up taking advantage of more than 4 cores as a general rule.

Everything will depend on the use that we are going to give the processor. Don’t let these hardware myths become the truth.

“Stock heatsinks are bad”

It is half true, but it has a certain veracity . We again emphasize that it depends on what we use the processor for.

In my opinion there are no bad stock heatsinks , they are either enough or insufficient. Therefore, it seems to me that it is another of the myths about hardware that are repeated and become true.

For a person who does not load the working processor, a stock heatsink is going to be great because it will save money.

On the other hand, whoever wants to overclock or give the CPU a demanding use, a stock heatsink will be insufficient . That said, we have to praise the work that AMD has done with their stock coolers, which give very good performance.

Intel offers the same heatsink on almost all of its processors, but AMD packs its chips with chord low-profile heatsinks. If we go to the mid-range, we will get a common stock heatsink; in case of going up to Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 9, the heatsink is much better.

In summary, there are needs that are not compatible with these heatsinks, as well as others that are.

“A plate of € 80 is enough”

It does not have to be this way, since the price does not mark everything on the motherboard. They are components that come with many important functions, so a motherboard should be chosen with a certain criterion or idea.

If we need an enthusiastic chipset , it won’t be enough; if we need a mainstream chipset, it may be insufficient; in case you are looking for a low-end chipset, yes, it will suffice.

We focus on the same thing again: it depends on what we look for or need . So, it’s another of the most talked about hardware myths.

“Overclocking will break your PC or reduce the useful life of its components”

First of all, any overclock done rigorously will not break anything, nor will it reduce the life of anything. The lifespan of the GPU, CPU or RAM (components that can be overclocked) will not be shortened if these components are overclocked.

On the one hand, we will reduce the useful life of the CPU if we do not maintain it correctly (thermal paste and good dissipation), or we expose it to too high temperatures.

In the case of the GPU , the overclock that we have practiced will matter a lot, such as the temperatures of it. In the case of RAM , it will depend on its temperature, as well as on the overclock practiced.

There are people who do extreme overclocking , which we don’t recommend if you can’t keep the components cool. It is true that an inconsistent overclock will reduce the life of the components.

Therefore, what reduces the useful life of the components is the lack of knowledge or responsibility , not the overclocking itself. The fact that AMD and Intel offer unlocked processors is not counterproductive, proving that this is another of the hardware myths.

“The human eye does not notice the difference of more than 60 Hz”

Anyone who has experienced the change from a panel with 60 Hz to another with 144 Hz will know that this is a lie . The fluidity that is obtained when we increase the refresh rate is brutal, improving the gaming experience in its entirety.

The problem comes when there are people who buy a 144 Hz monitor and do not take advantage of it, either because they are not using the correct cable, or their computers are not capable of displaying 144 FPS in their games.

In this case, the extra hertz are useless because we are not taking advantage of them . So, yes, we do notice the difference of going higher than 60 Hz. This is another one of the myths about hardware that is false.

“Installing more RAM speeds up PC speed”

We end with this statement, which is another myth that overshadows the truths of the hardware world. By installing more RAM, the system does not accelerate , nor does it experience tremendous speed.

With the expansion of RAM memory we will achieve greater multitasking capabilities , especially when we work with several programs at the same time. Increasing the capacity of our RAM memory is not going to make Windows go faster, but we can work with more applications at the same time.